The Web 2.0 way of learning with technologies

While there is a lot of hype around various concepts associated with the term Web 2.0 in industry, little academic research has so far been conducted on the implications of these new approaches for the domain of education. Much of what goes by the name of Web 2.0 can in fact be regarded as a new kind of learning technologies, and can be utilised as such. This paper explains the background of Web 2.0, investigates the implications for knowledge transfer in general, and then discusses their particular use in eLearning contexts with the help of short scenarios. The main challenge in the future will be to maintain essential Web 2.0 attributes like trust, openness, voluntariness, and self-organisation when applying such tools in institutional contexts.